


The Right Direction

by allineedisaquill



Category: Ghosts (TV 2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Bar/Pub, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Canon Gay Character, Coming Out, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Everyone Is Alive, First Meetings, Friendship, Gay Disaster Captain, Getting Together, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Production Company AU, Romance, The Captain is Gay (Ghosts TV 2019)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2019-06-04
Packaged: 2020-03-26 13:50:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19007080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allineedisaquill/pseuds/allineedisaquill
Summary: Theodore(the Captain)and Mary own a production company. Upon finishing their first major project, they're offered an even bigger job on the back of its success - one that requires a slightly larger crew than their current small and rowdy lot. When a man named Adam is put forward for the position of 2nd Assistant Director, Mary is sure he's right for the job, but the Captain is soon faced with a sudden conflict of interests. Will his fast-growing feelings for him cause history to repeat itself and the production to derail, or will his love life finally head in the right direction?





	The Right Direction

**Author's Note:**

> I personally feel like this AU is pretty ambitious, but I hope it works and moreover, I hope you enjoy it!

“That’s two minutes, people!”

Actors and crew alike filtered out to catch a breath of fresh air and prepare for the next round of filming, and Theodore took a heavy seat in his chair at the edge of the set. He scrubbed a hand down his face and paused to rub at his greying moustache in thought, keen eyes observing the set before him.

“You don’t switch off, do you?” Mary asked as she took her seat beside him, giving him a wide smile. She smoothed her hands across her skirt and then clasped them in her lap, leaning over to nudge him in the side with an elbow. “It’s going well, Teddy. Toby and Elizabeth are great actors and everyone’s doing their jobs properly, including us. No need to stress out.”

“Yes, I’m surprised we managed to bag them at all with Fanny as our casting director,” Theodore grumbled with a raised eyebrow, but met Mary with the corner of his mouth turned up in the barest of smiles. Being a director as well as running the show was stressful business, however much he truly enjoyed his work. "I’ll stop stressing when the whole thing is bloody well over,” he told her.

It was their final day of filming. He couldn’t afford to drop the ball, not for a second and not when so much was riding on the production being a success. To both their credit, they had worked hard all their lives to get to their positions with their own company, and he wasn’t about to throw such an opportunity down the drain for the both of them.

Realistically, yes, somewhere deep down, he knew the production was going well - even better than they expected, in fact - but his fingers and upper lip still twitched at the thought of something failing, something being beyond his control and leading to certain doom.

It had happened before, and he’d be damned if it would ever happen again.

“Well, when we’re wrapped up and everything went fine, like I said, you can buy me a drink.”

A hint of surprise and mild alarm in his eyes, Theodore stared at her.

Mary laughed. “Oh, take that look off your face, handsome. I know I’m not your type.”

He relaxed again with a roll of his eyes and cleared his throat. He was back to surveying the set as their cast and crew began to fill the room again. “Let’s carry on, shall we?”

With a nod, Mary stood. “Places, everyone!” She called as she took her familiar stance at Camera B, already at work to make sure the shot was as perfect as they could make it.

Theodore watched her for a second more and felt a wave of calm; he trusted Mary and her vision, her ability to bring even the most basic scenes to life, and he knew their show was in safe hands with her joining him at the helm as his 1st Assistant Director. At first, a few years prior, he had been unsure whether going into partnership with her would work out in the end, but he couldn’t deny how strong they were as a team even if they occasionally butted heads over the framing of certain scenes or minute directions of the cast.

With some minor adjustments to the lighting, they were ready to roll once more, and Theodore took his place beside Mary but left her enough space to work. She had the reins for the time being, and he was perfectly happy to simply observe.

He raised their clapperboard and brought it down.

“...and action,” he said, and the scene began to unfold perfectly.

In the end, Mary was entirely right; he had no reason to worry at all.

  


The Button and Heather was quiet for a Friday night.

Their small but loyal crew were holding a private wrap party in their usual booth, half-empty glasses already decorating their table. The bench seats had seen better days - the whole pub had, actually - but the drinks were reasonably priced and the staff were basically friends by that point - regulars in a pub with dwindling business tended to get favourable treatment, Theodore knew, but he preferred to think Mike and Alison actually _liked_ them, too.

“...and so I said to them, those are Rococo design. You can tell by the legs! It’s a good job you’ve got me on your team, or the set would have been an utter sham,” Thomas said, laughing around the same glass of red he’d been nursing for the past half-hour.

Kitty laughed along keenly, her smile bright. “Never mind the chairs, how’s your writing coming along? Theodore and Mary will be working on your scripts soon, I just know it.”

Theodore said nothing, but promptly drained the dregs of his beer with raised eyebrows.

“Another round, guys?” Alison asked as she appeared to clear a few glasses away.

“Ooh, yes please,” Julian said, looking up from his phone for a second with a crooked grin.

“Another round, Mike!” Alison shouted.  

From behind the bar, Mike slung a towel over his shoulder and began pulling pints. “Coming right up, guys,” he said, and then under his breath, “no one else to serve, anyway.”

“Why don’t you go serve the ghosts in the beer cellar, Michael?” Alison asked teasingly, going comically wide-eyed as she passed so she could dump the empties.

“Guys, if you please!” A high-pitched voice said, and a moment later a bespectacled man with a moustache popped his head through the old, open serving hatch. “How many more times - there are no ghosts here! It’s all old wives tales. The only spirits are behind his bar,” he said matter-of-factly, managing to look spooked at the idea nonetheless, before he disappeared again.

“Sorry Pat!” Alison called to their chef, even as she laughed.

It also earned a rumble of laughter from the party back at the table.

When Mike had brought their fresh round of drinks, Theodore held a hand up. On command, he earned the attention of his friends and crew, all eyes on him as chatter ceased. Even Julian, who was almost always glued to the Twitter app on his phone, had the good sense to look up at him and put his phone down for the time being.

“No wonder they used to call you ‘the Captain’ in University,” Mary teased.

Theodore simply rolled his eyes, as he was so often used to doing.

“As you all know, we just finished a pretty significant job. I’d like to be the first to say well done - you’ve done both Mary and I proud, even if I did have fairly strong reservations about some of you during the initial hiring process-”

Mary kicked him swiftly under the table and he made a small noise of pain, cutting himself short. He glared daggers at her while she gave him a stern look in response. Not to anyone’s surprise, he swallowed and backed down, then cleared his throat and tried again. Mary was one of the few people who could quite easily put Theodore in his place, not that he would ever admit to it.

“What I mean to say is - thank you, and congratulations on a splendid job all-round. We couldn’t have done it without you,” he said, and Mary nodded and held up her hands as she clapped happily for a moment.

Everyone raised their drinks then, making a unanimous sound of approval as they shared smiles around the table, but Theodore held up a hand again and shushed them all.

“Hold your horses, please. I’ve not finished yet. There’s more good news - not even my partner here knows about it yet.”

There was silence around the table as they all watched expectantly. Even Alison and Mike leaned eagerly over the bar, elbows braced on it as they waited for the announcement, and Pat had shoved his head back through the hatch again to listen too.

“Just after we wrapped, I got a call, and not just any call, but one from a rather distinguished film company. They saw the pilot for our TV show and are incredibly interested in adapting it for the big screen. Long story short, ladies and gentlemen: we’re going up in the world.”

There was more silence, and then the table erupted into excited cheers, each person talking over the next with enthusiastic questions and comments.

Pat had been so shocked at the news he’d promptly banged his head on the serving hatch, but his little yelp of pain was drowned out by the buzzing atmosphere. Regardless, the good news of his friends put a spring in his step and he went back to finishing up the party’s meals with a smile.

“The big screen?” Mary asked, the only one sat dumbfounded and quiet. There was a mist to her eyes and an expression like she daren’t believe it. She watched her friend and partner carefully, and Theodore reached over to cover her hand with his supportively.

“The big screen, Mary,” he answered seriously, the accompanying grin wide and toothy.

Alison and Mike looked at each other from back at the bar, pleased smiles on their own faces, and they agreed the next round would be on the house. Their friends had been regulars for years and deserved to celebrate.

“It’s only one round, I’ll pay for it myself,” Alison said, patting Mike on the chest.

Mike hooked an arm briefly around his fiance’s waist and pulled her close, landing a kiss at her temple. “You’re too good to that lot, you know. They’d better appreciate it.”

“Oh, I’m sure they do,” Alison said as she eyed them all fondly.

  


“It’s going to be a lot of work, you know,” said Mary later in the evening.

Theodore pinned his phone between his ear and shoulder awkwardly as he finished making his tea. He’d been about to settle into bed for the night with a nice book when she had called his landline, full of worry and apprehension about the whole thing. He’d been doing his best to soothe her concerns, a complete turn of events since their last day of filming.

“Yes, but I know we’re quite capable,” Theodore told her. “And with the company’s budget, we can afford to take on lots more pairs of hands, including a second AD which will make our lives much easier for the duration. How does that sound?” He asked as he carried his steaming mug carefully to his room.

Mary hummed. “I suppose you’re right. Sorry, Teddy,” she said.

Theodore scoffed at her apology and his moustache twitched with a smile as he grabbed the phone properly in his hand again. “It’s alright.” He paused. “If I’m completely honest, Mary, I’m scared too. Properly bricking it, actually.”

His friend laughed down the line, and he laughed with her.

“We’re going into pre-production in a few weeks, so we’ll start hiring right away. Don’t suppose you have anyone in mind for the assistant director job, do you?”

She thought for a moment, and then came a sudden, “Ooh! I do, as it happens!”

Theodore finished a sip of tea and perked up, an eyebrow raised. “You do? Well there’s a start! Who are they? Perhaps we can bring them in for an interview next week?”

“Well,” Mary said slowly. “His name’s Adam.”

**Author's Note:**

> Say hello! bbcghosts.tumblr.com


End file.
